Man convicted of burglary, beating woman

Thomas Benitez Jr., 57, received a 10-year sentence Wednesday for breaking into a 59-year-old woman's house and beating her, a Lubbock County prosecutor said Thursday.

Benitez used a large, metal carpenter's level to beat Armandina Uvalle during the Aug. 7, 1996, attack, according to testimony in his two-day trial, prosecutor Rusty Ladd said. Ladd said Uvalle suffered contusions to her head and face and broken ribs.

Jurors sentenced Benitez to five years for burglary with intent to commit aggravated assault and 10 years for aggravated assault. The sentences will run concurrently, Ladd said. But because Benitez used a deadly weapon in the assault, he will serve at least five years.